One of the most exciting reasons to come back to San Diego was to get to know her nieces. There were a few that she never got the chance to really know. Anne was ready to fix that. She wasn’t sure how she was going to be received when she tried, but she wasn’t going to give up. She was going to remain persistent.

Very persistent.

Adella was who she hoped she would have the easiest time with. Maybe if she got through to her she would be able to get through to the other girls.

When things had begun to settle down for the day, Anne went around looking for the bubbly Waters girl. Her dark eyes scanned the area just waiting to see her bounce around and make herself known.

Finally, she spotted her.

Her steps were commanding as she made her ways towards the girl. ”Della,” she smiled and offered the girl a friendly little wave. ”I was hoping that you’d like to go get a bite to eat.” Practices were done for the day, so it was a good time for them both to refuel. ”There is that sandwich shop nearby which I’ve heard is good.” She stood tall and confident as she looked at Della and awaited her answer.

Della knew that she had met her Aunt before, but she had been a bit distracted that day, and of course she knew that she had an aunt, because… how did people not know that they had aunts? Plus, duh, her aunt was in the dancing world the same as her. But Aunt Anne had always been in France and so the moment that she had appeared here, where she worked, as a photographer, it had sort of floored her. She had blinked and paused and – oh. You see, Aunt Anne was her mother’s twin and that made it a little bit shocking.

But she was pushing past that because she was her aunt, duh, and she would like to get to know her. For all that it was… a little odd. But Della was the sort to want that sort of connection even if she hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know her aunt yet. She loved her family, and she was a bubbly nut so though it had thrown her the first few times she had seen her at Stepping Stones, she didn’t pause quite so much to have family around now. Even family that reminded her so of… well. That was just something she had decided to ignore.

Besides, bubbly was practically Della’s middle name.

And she was bubbly even after a grueling day of dance. She was glad to be back to that routine, or as routine as her work world ever got, after being on World of Dance. It was good to get back to what she loved to do day in and day out without the fan fare. But now she was definitely ready to relax. She had cooled down, she had had her shower and she had changed. She was ready to grab a bite and take a breather.

Then she heard her name. She blinked and whirled around to see Aunt Anne and, oh, again she paused but she pushed it down and beamed instead. ”Hiya” she greeted happily. She was hoping that she would go and get a bite to eat at a sandwich shop. Oh. She blinked again and then smiled, like she said, she totally wanted to get to know the aunt she hadn’t really met more than a handful of times. So, she nodded and beamed. Besides, she had lived the dance world, even if they weren’t family… that was tempting to know more about. So. Bonus. ”I’d love it. It’s wonderful. Just let me grab my stuff” she said with a nod and then bounced off to grab her bag and make her way back, ready to go.

Anne patiently watched as Della debated to go or not. The girl was still bubbly and smiled at her before she finally nodded that she was going to go with her. ”I will wait here.” Anne told her with a little smile as she readjusted her purse on her shoulder.

Heading out with Della by her side, Anne headed to her car and waited for Della to get settled before she headed to the sandwich shop. ”So this place is good?” She had heard it was from many other dancers, but it was always reassuring to hear it again from someone she was more familiar with.

Even if it was marginally.

It wasn’t long before Anne pulled into the parking lot of the little sandwich shop. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but this hadn’t been it. Maybe something a little more put together? Though in her travels she had learned that sometimes the places that weren’t always put together were the best.

Walking inside, the woman quickly began to scan over the menu. ”So what do you recommend?” Anne had a few ideas, but she was interested to know if Della liked it or had heard anything bad about what she was wanting.

”How long have you been dancing now?” At one point, Anne knew the answer to that, but as the years went by she had lost track of the years.

It threw Della off every time that she saw her aunt. Of course she knew that she had an aunt on her mother's side, she had even met her. But she tried not to think about that first time because it made her sad and Della focused on the happy. But it was one thing to know her mother had an identical twin and another thing to see her! It was a little bit of a little jolt everytime she saw her. She didn't mean it and she felt bad for it. But she also wasn't going to hold it against her. Della was generally the sort to not turn people down. Ever. So when her Aunt Anne asked if she wanted to go to lunch she considered and then nodded.

And then bounced off to rinse off and change out of her dance clothes. She mostly only had non-dance clothes thanks to Tina and Lana, and one of those outfits was what she pulled on before she skipped back over. "Ready to go," she confirmed with a smile.

She settled easily into the front seat of the car, sliding her bag down to rest at her face. And beamed. "Yeah, it's so good. I mean, most places around here are pretty awesome. Good refuel food too, really. Which of course makes it even better," she replied in her usual babbling manner. But she meant her words and perhaps she was a bit nervous about actually talking to her aunt. That was new. But totally welcome too. Plus her aunt was in the dance world, that was enough to draw her curiosity really.

Getting there, Della's eyes scanned over the menu, drawn to the sweets as always first. But the voice in her head that might have sounded like her best friend reminded her she had to be more healthy. What did she recommend? She hummed. "Well, I'm going for their turkey club there, with the bacon, because I wanna refuel and behave myself. Mostly. But their Reuben is amazing. And so is the Italian. And oh, well, you sorta can't go wrong I think" she informed Anne with a little nod. Indecisive thy name is Della.

How long has she been dancing? She blinked and thought about it. She had alwAys danced but her official start. "I started learning when I was 8, but I've been with Stepping Stones since I was fifteen" she beamed at the memory of her audition, and then returned the question, almost. "When did you start choreographing?"
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HEARTLINES

Anne nodded, realizing that most of Della’s life had been spent most of her life dancing and had even started out at the company rather young. ”Most of your life has been spent dancing,” she said with an approving little nod. It was good that she had started early, in her mind, the early they start the better. Starting from a young age could teach them so much. They could learn it later, but it wasn’t the same to Anne.

”I started a little over thirty years ago.” She admitted after thinking about it for a while, realizing how much time had passed. The years had passed in the blink of an eye and all blurred together. Chuckling softly, she tucked her hair behind her ear, still in disbelief about how much time had passed.

With their food in hand, Anne headed to one of the tables that looked like it had been recently cleaned. Getting settled, she took a small bite of the sandwich, quick to cover her mouth as she chewed. It took a few moments for her figure out how much she enjoyed the sandwich. ”You were right. The Italian is good.”

Wiping her mouth, Anne sipped on her water. ”What else do you like to do?”

Della beamed and nodded when her aunt confirmed that most of her life had been spent dancing. She laughed a little bit and then paused, when she realized, well. Okay. She could say that. She could say it. ”Mama… Mama encouraged me a lot. Dad was worried that I was such a klutz, it’d be bad. But Mama saw I could do it” she said, and realized she didn’t feel as sad as she could have. She hadn’t said that word, her name for her mother stuck in time back from the last time she had said it, in a long time. But it was true. It was her mother that had started her dancing. She had seen Della could do it.

It was one of many reasons Della still loved to do it.

But she was more interested in her aunt! Choreography. That was so cool. She was interested in what that was like, how she got started, when, but she was going to behave herself on questions as best she could. She was a curious gal, it would only last so long. But she wanted to attempt to temper herself down a little bit at least. She was just so curious about it! It was such a wonderful thing, to create those dances.

She started a little over thirty years ago. Wow. Della mouth made a little “o” before she remembered herself and shook her head. That was so amazing! She leaned forward closer to her aunt a little bit. ”That’s so cool! Why did you start?” she asked, so much for not delving into twenty questions. But she didn’t know as much as she wanted to about Anne, when she was her family. She knew she could ask Tina but why, when Aunt Anne was right here? She hoped she would tell her if she got too much.

Della beamed when her aunt liked the choice she had given. Oh good. ”I’m glad you like it! It’s really good. I almost always end up with it” she said, with a little laugh, but she knew her choice was better for her right after a practice, better to refuel. She took a bite of that herself and then another, oh that felt so good after burning so much energy today working on the new routine. She could eat forever. That was part of the problem, maybe? Oh well. She liked food. She worked it all off.

What else. She tilted her head and thought, rocking on the chair a bit. Mostly she danced. Almost always she danced. ”I like to hang out with Andy. Or go to the water. Or hang out with my best friend.” Mostly she danced. Almost always she danced. But she liked to try new things. She thought about it a bit, tilting her head before she grinned and decided to ask a question of her own. ”How do you like being here?” she asked, meaning San Diego, and hoping that made sense and was clear. She hoped she liked it.
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”When I was younger, I moved to LA to try and make it big as a dancer,” Anne began, figuring if they were going to get to know each other that Della should know as much about her as possible. ”When nothing worked, I was given the chance to work as a choreographer and have done it since then.” It was a career that started from a failure, but she couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Anne chuckle softly as she wiped the corners of her mouth. ”I can see why you struggled not getting it.” It was a good sandwich and she could see how good it would be after a long hard practice.

She took small bites as she waited for Della to share more details about herself. Smiling softly she nodded. The young girl didn’t give her much information, but she was thrilled that she was so close with one of her sisters and had a good friend that she could hang out with. ”Do you go to the beach or pools?” Anne typically preferred to hear the crashing waves, but loved how peaceful specific pools could be. In her older age, that was something she appreciated.

It’s nice to be home again.” It had been a long time since Anne had been to San Diego for a long stay and not a mini vacation. ”I like being near a beach that is warm year round.” The water may not have been warm, but she could still visit the beach anytime she wanted. ”It’s nice to be around you guys too.”

Taking another bite, she wiped the corners of her mouth. ”How are your sisters doing?”

As odd as it was that she was doing this now, it didn’t matter – she was glad to get to know her aunt. Especially when she was in the same world as her. Now that they had been together a while, the weirdness was starting to fade. And mostly, as was often the case with Della, she was just focused on the fact that they were talking about dancing, any sort of dancing. Choreography included because that was part of what made her dancing world go around and around on its axis. SO she was happy to ask and wanted to get to know the answers. Because, who knew, maybe it meant she had chops in that area too. Genetically. For when she couldn’t dance anymore.

Her mouth made an ‘o’ as she listened. She had tried to make it big as a dancer. That was interesting. And a familiar story to Della, one she had often heard. But it was cool to learn about how that had turned into choreographing. She nodded, enthusiastically. ”Things worked out how they were supposed to then, right? I mean, that’s what one of my sisters says often. I agree though. That’s so cool. And you’re such an awesome choreographer so definitely worked out how it was meant to. Funny how that happens” she said, not realizing she was babbling because that was typical Della speak.

She beamed, so happy that her aunt liked it and nodded, very enthusiastically this time, not that that was new. ”Oh yeah, it’s so good. I’m so glad that you like it” she didn’t usually give recommendations because of the way her mind bounced about from one to the other and generally liked most things but when she did, it was a relief to hear that it had gone over well. Especially when it came to food, food was totally important. And she was totally happy with her own choice even if she would rather one with a bit more on it that was bad for her!

”Either!” she said, bouncing a bit as she nibbled on her sandwich somemore and then continued to answer. ”I prefer the beach though. I like the waves, and the salty aspect of it, and the fact that you can float there for hours and hours but sometimes a pool is just as nice. Easier to sort of drift or work out if you need to in a pool. But I’ll spend forever in the water if I don’t have anything else to do” she said, nodding a little bit at that.

It was nice to be home again. Ah, of course, because her aunt had to be from here if her family was from here, and they were family, that was just how the world worked when it made sense and all that. She nodded, she was sure it was. She couldn’t picture leaving San Diego, even if she had to for stretches at a time for work. Never forever. Nice to be near a beach, she grinned and nodded along agreeing with that.And nice to be near them. She beamed. ”It’s nice ot have you here” she said, nodding. She knew it was a bit odd but it was still nice. How were her sisters? ”Totally depends on which sister,” she said, with a laugh. But shrugged. ”Everyone is good. Wrapped up in their own things mostly but we stay in touch and I haven’t heard anything too bad lately, so I’m going to say that everyone is pretty good.”
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Sippin' Tropicana in a coconut cabana
Floatin' on flamingos, smokin' all the mangoes
Hotter than mojave, sweeter than agave
We just wanna stay cool hoverboarding in a calamansi wavepool

this is how we otter pop

Anne smiled softly as Della informed her that her siblings were doing well. With how many of them there were she figured that at least one would be going through something, but she was thrilled to know that wasn’t the case.

”What are they all up too?” Anne knew a little bit, but she knew she still had a lot to learn about her nieces. ”Everyone of you always had different interests,” she started with a little smile. ”Have you all gone after your passions?” Anne knew that Della did and she believed that Attina had gone after hers. It was hard not to hear about Aquata going after her dreams. It thrilled her to know that her nieces were doing so well.

Taking a few careful bites of her sandwich, Anne paused to wipe her mouth and look at her bubbly niece. ”We should all get together one night. A big dinner.” There were a lot of people to plan around, but she hoped that they could manage to get them all together. ”Do you think we could get everyone together?”